Outbreak Island: Pendulum

About

Outbreak Island: Pendulum is a single player simulation game. It was developed by Tiny Magicians and was released on August 22, 2022. It received neutral reviews from players.

Mysterious island, crashed plane, underground complex, classified military research. Survive in a new atmospheric sandbox thriller and uncover the terrible secret of the disaster.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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59%

Audience ScoreBased on 250 reviews

story7 positive mentions

music3 negative mentions

The game has beautiful graphics and a well-designed atmosphere that enhances the survival experience.
There is a lot of potential for the game, with interesting crafting mechanics and a mysterious storyline.
The gameplay can be enjoyable, especially for fans of survival games, and it has moments of fun despite its current issues.

The game suffers from numerous bugs, including disappearing storage items and random enemy spawns that disrupt gameplay.
The inventory management is clunky and frustrating, with limited space and no option to drop items.
The quests and objectives feel repetitive and lack depth, making the gameplay experience dull and unengaging.

story
51 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
78%
8%
The game's story is described as mysterious and intriguing, set on an unknown island, but many players find it lacking depth and engagement, with quests often feeling dull and repetitive. While some appreciate the crafting and exploration elements, the overall narrative experience is hindered by technical issues, vague quest descriptions, and a lack of character development or meaningful interactions. Players express a desire for more immersive storytelling, better quest design, and additional content to enhance the narrative experience.
- “A survival, base building game with a story you have to piece together.”
- “This game is super fun, the story is great from how far I'm in it.”
- “The tutorial is good and leads you like a story from point to point.”
- “The quests are very vague in their description, and it seems strange to just follow waypoints; there is no challenge.”
- “The world is vast but feels dead and empty unless it's raining. I'd like to suggest some NPCs like merchants and quest givers or boards.”
- “This early into early access, Outbreak Island doesn’t offer much as far as story is concerned.”
graphics
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
37%
10%
The graphics of the game have received generally positive feedback, with many users praising their beauty, ambiance, and unique details that enhance the overall experience. However, some players have expressed concerns about blurriness and a lack of customizable graphic settings, indicating that further optimization and options could improve the visual experience. Overall, while the graphics are considered a strong point, there are areas for improvement to meet player expectations.
- “The graphics are beautiful and I love the ambiance of the thunderstorms.”
- “The graphics in the game are both unique and beautiful, and the world has a lot of curious details that will leave you wanting more.”
- “I really like the dark feel of the game and the graphics are well done.”
- “Change the graphics of the opponent roaming around; it's not scary.”
- “Why is it so blurry even when I try ultra graphics? Please add more additional settings so I can turn off the blur or disable anti-aliasing.”
- “Some games give me headaches (literally because of visuals), and this is one of those games.”
gameplay
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
70%
15%
The gameplay of Outbreak Island has received mixed feedback, with players appreciating the balance of survival mechanics but criticizing various aspects such as combat, base building, and AI pathing. While some find potential in the mechanics and enjoy the resource management aspect, others highlight significant bugs, lackluster combat, and uninspiring gameplay that detracts from the overall experience. Overall, the game is seen as needing substantial mechanical polishing and bug fixes to enhance playability.
- “I've been looking for a zombie game with survival mechanics and feel that Outbreak Island has a lot of potential!”
- “Some games make the survival mechanic so intense that you have to search for food/water every 2 seconds, but I think there's a fair balance at this current stage.”
- “Has a beautiful design; just needs some mechanical polishing. If you go to the woods from the start and gather and cook mushrooms and save your canned food and apples, you'll have plenty of food. Also, never sleep—time management and resource management are very important early on until you have overflow.”
- “The base building mechanics of the game at the time of writing this are pure unadulterated dog sh1t!!”
- “It's just an abomination of a game, horrible to play, janky audio, uninspiring gameplay, lack-lustre mechanics and terrible combat.”
- “But the constant tasks, the easy AI, the weak weapons, the bland and tasteless world, and constricting building mechanics wasn't for me.”
atmosphere
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
23%
33%
The atmosphere in the game is generally praised for its impressive graphics and immersive qualities, particularly in creating a tense and oppressive environment. However, some users note inconsistencies, such as a lack of tension release and the presence of bugs that detract from the overall experience. Fans of sandbox thrillers are likely to appreciate the atmospheric elements, making it a worthwhile download for those who enjoy the genre.
- “A real shame as the bunker is tense, atmospheric and had it not been for the lack of tension release.”
- “If you are a fan of experiencing this whole atmosphere of these events, you will definitely enjoy this game.”
- “The atmosphere is impressive, good management, good graphics, properly made interfaces.”
- “It lacks atmosphere.”
- “I think the atmosphere needs work.”
- “If you are a fan of experiencing the whole atmosphere of these events, you will definitely enjoy this game.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
37%
38%
The music and sound design in the game have received largely negative feedback, with players noting a lack of eerie ambiance and background music, which contributes to a dull and boring experience. While some appreciate the initial soundtrack, the overall absence of engaging audio elements, such as sound effects and environmental sounds, detracts from the game's atmosphere. Many reviewers feel that the sound design is barebones and in need of significant improvement.
- “I like the soundtrack a lot when you load in.”
- “Solid game when you don't have anything else to play; need some music at least 7.5/10.”
- “Also, there aren't any apparent enemies during the daytime, plus there is no music or much ambiance, so it gets boring.”
- “No background music or sounds besides my footsteps and the loud noise of my gun and metal pipe.”
- “However, a nonexistent soundtrack and barebones sound design leave much to be desired.”
stability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game currently suffers from significant stability issues, with numerous bugs and glitches reported by users, leading to a frustrating experience. While some see potential in its concept, many recommend trying the free demo first, as the game's early access state results in a clunky and often annoying gameplay experience. Overall, it is not yet ready for a full release.
- “What a trash game; this shouldn't be out yet as it has so many glitches.”
- “Cool post-apocalyptic game, but after several hours it's annoying because of glitches.”
- “Currently, the game is buggy, so know fresh starts will happen.”
monetization
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of the game is criticized for misleadingly presenting itself as a full game when it is actually a demo or advertisement, which detracts from genuine titles and misuses marketing space on platforms like Steam. This practice is seen as a harmful tactic by developers to avoid proper marketing costs, leading to a negative experience for gamers. Overall, the monetization strategy is viewed as deceptive and detrimental to the gaming community.
- “While it might seem like an innocuous mistake, publishing demos and advertisements as if they are full games is misleading and in some ways harmful.”
- “This advertisement is taking up marketing space and visibility that would be better made available to a developer that's done the right thing and created a full game.”
- “Often developers may choose to incorrectly publish demos/advertisements as separate games as a cheap way to bypass paying Valve for marketing presence on the Steam front page, which may seem clever to them, but it's harmful behavior and it's not good for gamers.”
optimization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while some users praise its beautiful graphics and decent performance on high-end systems, others report poor optimization issues, including high CPU usage and inconsistent performance across different hardware. Overall, it shows promise for an early access title, but significant improvements are still needed.
- “It's a beautiful game and the graphics are great; it's optimized well.”
- “A game that is still in the early stages of development but already has good optimization.”
- “Performance has been okay for me using my workstation with dual Xeon CPUs and Quadro graphics; it's worth a try since it is free, so not much to lose but some time.”
- “The game seems poorly optimized at this current time.”
- “Seems to be poorly optimized as it kept my CPU pegged the entire time.”
- “All varying in the performance to resources needed to run.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players generally find the gameplay enjoyable and not overly grindy; however, inventory management can become cumbersome as items quickly fill up, leading to tedious exploration when returning to the greenhouse.
- “Your inventory will very quickly fill up, making exploration a tedious chore.”
- “Play was really fun and not super grindy, but every time I come back to my greenhouse, my stuff in my chest is gone.”